The other day I received a call at home from a former coworker. She has taken over some of the duties I performed there and part of the reason for her call was to discuss those. The other reason for her call was to deliver a message she promised to get to me from a former student: "Tell her I came by and that I miss her." He's also in high school now. His parents were (and likely still are) very thoughtful of their son, and involved but not overly; they want him to succeed and push him to do so independently, offering him options and suggestions, consequences and routines. So after I got off the phone with my former coworker, I called him. It was so nice to hear from him, get his take on the high school experience. I wished, as did he, that he and I were at the same high school. Having familiar faces would make the transition a little easier. But then again, there are many of his peers whom I would rather not see again.
Then I also got a different call: A call into the associate pricipal's office. She wanted to tell me about a new student I'd be seeing on Monday. He is much like the character Russell Crowe played in A Beautiful Mind, as it was explained to me. He has an aide who will help him with his work. My class which he will be a part of was let in on this student's abilities and was told about what to expect. Some of them have had courses with him before and they seemed to deem it no big deal. I've had special needs students with aides helping them before, so it also is no big deal to me. And, I don't know if I should see this as sincere or as smoke being blown up my ass, but I was told that my course was specifically chosen for him. For now, I'll take it positively.
if your new kid is on the spectrum I'm on... and my kids are on, maybe my page is worth bookmarking....
-jypsy
have fun!
Posted by: jypsy | Friday, September 26, 2003 at 01:31 PM